The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-04-29
PARIS COMMUNISTS.

Queer Ideas About Liberty OF Speech.
The Paris communists are divided
into numerous small groups, each with
a distinctive and terrible name, such as
the Explosion" the Sire Flash" the
Black Hand" the "Disinherited,"
the Painters" etc. They hold their
meetings in low cafes, except that
when there is a general reunion. which
takes place in well-known meeting
places, such as the Sale Flavie, in
Belleville; the sale of the Bonle Noice,
the Sale Graffard, or in the cemetery
of Pere-la Chaise. The foreign anarch-
lists meet on the south side of the river,
in the Globelins quarter. The fire and
birthstone breathren do not improve on
close acquaintance. They are a
dangerous lot for strangers to mix
with, but if n takes certain precau-
tions-leaving for instance, his top-hat
Of he has one) at home for here that
article is regarded as the figure head of
b~ourgeOism, which means, that it
stands a good chance of being battered,
and pays the entrance fee of five or six
sous-he may pass in among the citoy-
ems and citOyennes (within the anarch.
lists one the appellations of monsieur
and madame are unknown). The men
are a low, ugly, savagelooking herd.
mostly under 20. As for the citoy-
ennes, one might hazard the remark
that their moral characters are not al
together irreproachable. French an
archistS are not allowed to show the
drapeau rouge by itself. This is per-
haps why a red flag with a black era
vate and a black flag with a red cravate
are stuck on each side of the platform.
Round the hall are hung a few placards
bearing such amiable notices as Blan-
qui's Neither God nor Master" or
Proudhon's paradox, "No Government,
No Authority" The London anarch-
lists do not seem to be agreed as to
whether they should have organization
and government, Jules Wales was
prepared to accept the 'least govern
ment possible" but the Paris commu-
nists of to-day will have no govern
ment at all. Any of the number who
asp.res to municipal honors is doomed
and damned. $751;.
The first thing done in a meeting is to
appoint apresident-or, rather a "dele-
gate of order''-who has invariably an
assistant (much needed by his side.
This little initatory formality having
been gone through with as much noise
as possible, the meeting proceeds to
settle down to business-proceeds l say,
for the fact is these meetings never do
settle down to anything. One great
popularity about them, and indeed a
slight INCONVENIENCE if you wish to fol-
low the inaamable oratory closely, is
that everyone speaks at the same time.
Perhaps it would be direct breach of
the principles of equality if one spoke
before his neighbor. The first speaker
may be fortunate enough to get his
first sentence clear of, but is not half
way through the second before ome
one interrupts HIM. Then a hundred
rise simultaneously to interrupts the in
terrupter and to restore harmony, the
delegates of order get up to pacify
the meeting, and by humping vigor~
ously on the platform manage to in
crease the din. Cltoyeans do not ex-
press disapprobation By kissing, but by
howling. They get up and howl down
the speaker, or try to, until in turn they
succumb to some one with a stronger
bray than themselves. And amid all this
believing, shouting, shrieking, gestic-
ulating, and cries Of "a La porte!' the
speaker continues to hold forth to the
enlightenment OF nobody. but is, new
ertheless, to Judge from his eccentric
and emphatic gestures, saying some
thing very strong, if not very import
ant; the delegate Of order" now with
a hundred assistants instead Of one,
continues to clamor frantically for or
der, which he never gets. The howl
ing is not infrequently accompanied
with the application OF a stick to the
head Of one or the other Of the disput-
ants, aud the meeting. if fatigue does
not bring a lull, sometimes ends in an
understandable fracas. No policeman
or republican guards are visible
at these meetings. for the sight
of a uniform is to the anarchist what the
red mantle is to the bull. A case against
the communists only does the
good, 50 the police generally leave